Menu

Jurong Lake District left hanging at HSR’s decision

For the past few years, the Singaporean government had been allocating land for developments of the High Speed Rail (HSR). However, in recent news, the government is going to put a pause on some of these projects. The 12 hectares land in Jurong Lake District is being left on hold too. This leaves behind an empty hole in all the areas that await Malaysian leaders to reconsider the project developments.

Around 67 hectares of area in the Jurong Country Club (JCC) was set aside for the HSR to construct the Jurong East terminus on. This project was said to be a noticeable development that would advantage the business sector including hotels, restaurants, offices, etc. JCC also had a site reserved for the building of another golf club: Raffles Country Club (RCC). RCC is expected to be giving the land for these two 18-hole golf clubs by July 31. The club is 143 hectare in total. Unlike the initial stages of the agreement, they have to give in a bigger portion of their land for the development of HSR projects. However, all these projects are being affected by the recent rumors of HSR cancelation.

People doubt that the HSR will get back to these projects soon. These doubtful people also include the directors of big firms such as ZACD. However, the Prime Minister of Malaysia is definite that the HSR will be back on the projects as soon as the financial situation allows for new projects to be catered to.

Majority of these developmental projects regarding Jurong Lake District were announced in 2008 by URS. These projects were being looked upon as Singapore’s next Central Business District (CBD). It was only after 5 years after this that the Singaporean and Malaysian government developed the HSR. Today, as news of canceling HSR is surfacing, experts are worried about the outcomes.

There is still some hope. People like Mr. Mak are looking at the bright side. In fact, they firmly believe that there is still a lot of positivity to be expected from these projects which they hope will be completed soon. On the other hand, there are people like Mr. Ku Swee Yong, the chief executive officer of International Property Advisor, who think that investors won’t be as interested in the Jurong Lake District project anymore. This is because, over the years, Singapore has developed many more attractive investment sites, for example, the Jurong Innovation District.

The sadder news is that despite doubts of cancellation, RCC shouldn’t be expecting to get their land back. This is mostly because doing so will set a bad example and also prove that the government made a bad decision of getting the land long before the project was expected to begin.

The land acquisitions that come with the cancellation of HSR are not confirmed until the Malaysian partners present their say. Amid all this, a few members of RCC are still hopeful. On the other hand, some members reported that the club is already beginning to wind down. The club’s crockery was also found on sale which is a degree of verification of the club’s closure.

Other than than Jurong, our 2nd CBD of Singapore, investors can also consider looking at new launch condos that are nearby the main CBD of Singapore or even new launches that are near to the other regional centres of Singapore.